The Battle Of The Atlantic - The U-boat War

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THE BATTLE OF THE ATLANTIC - THE U-BOAT WAR


WWII* Chapter 17
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Once more, this book must step back a little in time, to March 1941. You may remember that, following the fall of France, Admiral Doenitz had established the headquarters of the U-Boat fleet at Lorient, and had prepared for the mighty offensive against the Atlantic sea routes that were so crucial to supplies of both food and war materials from the USA and Canada. The British success in countering the effectiveness of the magnetic mine had pinned German hopes for an Atlantic victory firmly upon the submarine fleet, to which was now added the strength of the Luftwaffe's latest acquisition, the four-engined long range Focke-Wulf Fw200 Condor bomber, which proved very effective against merchant ships at sea.
In March 1941, Churchill established in London a Committee to meet daily and marshal the resources required to `defeat the attempt to strangle our food supplies and our connection with the United States'. This group recognised the fact that Luftwaffe attacks on the British ports were every bit as serious a threat to the convoys across the Atlantic as the U-Boat attacks themselves, and set about strengthening the anti-aircraft defences of the principal docks and ship repair facilities around the British coast. They did not have long to wait.
As soon as March 13th and 14th, the Luftwaffe attacked the docks along the River Clyde in Scotland with great force, putting some of them out of action until the summer and even into the autumn. At the beginning of May, the attack hit the docks of Liverpool and the Mersey, which were pounded remorselessly for seven consecutive nights. Sixty-nine of the 144 available mooring bays were eliminated, and some 3,000 people were killed or injured. Then, just as it seemed that a pattern of airborne offensive against the docks was becoming established, the Luftwaffe raids ceased as suddenly as they had begun. Churchill was of the opinion that, had the assault on the ports continued, the war might well have been lost.
Now RAF Coastal Command, whose aircraft searched the seas, reported enemy shipping movements, attacked enemy ships, laid mines and hunted surface raiders was placed under the command of the Admiralty from April 1941. The fitting of better anti-aircraft defences to merchant ships was given a high priority. Britain had, in the summer of 1941, a total of 695 vessels deployed for the defence of the Western Approaches, but of these only 248 were destroyers, of which 59 were being refitted and were out of action. There were 99 of the little corvettes that were to prove so effective against the U-Boats, and 48 sloops. The biggest trump card that Admiral Sir Percy Noble, C-in-C Western Approaches, had was the presence on most of the escort vessels of radar, which effectively prevented the U-Boat fleet attacking on the surface after dark. Radar was also gradually added to the armament of RAF Coastal Command aircraft.